What Lord Byron Said
In the same school anthology I mentioned earlier, there is a section that tells you how to write. Of course, the advice is not what I would give. For instance, never in my life was I able to write an outline. I don’t know what I’m writing about until I write it.
The instructions say:
Prewrite.
Write.
Revise.
Prewriting includes:
Choosing and limiting a topic.
Deciding on a Purpose.
Considering the Audience.
Gathering supporting information.
Organizing ideas.
Only then are you allowed to write a first draft! Can you imagine I could ever write that way?
The instructions I would give are:
What is something that you would like to write about? Just write about it any way you want. Have fun.
The poet Lord Byron said:
Dear Authors, suit your topics to your strength,
And ponder well your subject, and its length…
Lord Byron, I’m sorry. I just can’t do that.
There was one quote I absolutely love from playwright Christopher Isherwood. I remember doing a report on his play, I Am a Camera. Christopher Isherwood and I must be quite alike. He said:
“I go through for the first time in a very slapdash way, and if I get into some nonsense or digression, I write it through to the end and come out on the other side.
Comments
CANIM GLORIA, YOU ARE THE MOST FAVORITE, THE BEST TEACHER OF MINE, EVER, EVER ..
LOVE YOU
PS: when the writing is stg like Godwriting, I mean with higher inspiration and with heart, I think one may not need rewriting, but when one writes with his/her intellect this may require lots of rewriting. At least this is my situation...
God is your best teacher, beloved Engin.
And thank you for pointing out that I meant Flaubert, not Balzac. I've got to pay attention.
If I were writing fiction, I would do lots of rewriting too.
Yes, Godwriting comes from a different level.
Mostly all writing is easier for me now.
Besides we have computers :) so we can copy and paste, cut and past and change the places of the sentences, words, we can strike off the text whatever we can...
I can not imagine those great writers who used to write with feathers, under the light of candles in the cold houses. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for example, which was written with feather and ink, more than 900 pages. He was a kind of God-writer I suppose :) whit such patience and urge to write.
Dear Gloria, Dear All...
Yes ,that is very handy having computers. If ı didn't use the easiness of the computer ı couldn't write- being late- about Granula or our 'Aşure' on the other page.Luckily ı don't use feathers to write under the lights of candles in the cold house but I am late. So if you like to read about Granula go back to the writing one before this.... please.
Thanks for the next read! I checked on-line and my local library has Stones for Ibarra. I read some interesting facts about the author after googling her name. She went back to college and finished her degree at Stanford at the age of 67. In 1983 at the age of 73 she published her first novel (Stones) which won a national book award. Many situations in the book are thought to be from her own life. The web site was stanfordalumni.org if anyone wants to read more about this interesting lady.
Oya and Engin, beloved mother and daughter, can you imagine writing with a quill?!! Compared to computers, even electric typewriters made making corrections hard.
Yes, we live in good times.
Sally, thanks for the info re Harriet Doerr. I am sure she was speaking from experience.
See if you can get the Barrio Boy too! i haven't read it but want to.
I think the process of writing itself is what works the magic. Of course, there does seem to be much more magic in Godwriting than in other writing. Something happens when you use your body to write or type words as they emerge from heart, mind and soul. You find a rhythmn and stide, and a whole bunch of wonderful ideas that might never have seen the light of day if you were simply sitting and thinking. Things really get cooking as one idea gives birth to another and they flow like a brook in spring. It is an individual matter of personal preference. Some people have to speak to process everything - they need the simultaneous acts of speaking and hearing. Some people would rather suffer through a dental procedure than write. They probably didn't have an angel teacher who said, "What is something you would like to write about? Write about it any way you want. Have fun."
Gloria, I just finished "Stones for Ibarra". It was a wonderful and unusual book. At the end of the book there was a sentence that made me think of you sorting your things. "She foresaw that future sorting might prove difficult, so faint and uncertain was the line that separated the significant from the trivial". I'm starting "Consider this Senora" next and checked to see that my wonderful library also has "Barrio Boy" which will have to wait until we get back from Arizona. Harriet Doerr's account of the quiet village in Mexico made me picture you living in Argentina. What will the weather be like where you will be living?
Jo, I think your name is supposed to be Joy! You give so much love and wisdom.
Sally, I'm so glad you liked Stones of Iberra too. It definitely was taken from the author's life.
It was some years ago that Harriet Doerr lived in Mexico and wrote her book. Capilla del Monte must be much more up to date. You may be sure I'll report every detail when the time comes.
According to what I found on the internet, the lowest temperature in Capilla del Monte is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the highest is 70. Sounds great to me!
You know, I just realized that one interpretation of Capilla del Monte would be Top of the World!
Wow, it sounds perfect weatherwise. Randy has a fun idea. I always forward the daily Heavenletter to him at work but his work has been so hectic he hasn't had time to read them at work for several weeks. So he printed them out and will take them with us to read on the airplane to Arizona. Then we will leave them here and there on our trip where someone is apt to pick one up and read it. Isn't that a fun thought. In fact I think I will print one out and leave it in the coffee shop we are going to this morning!
Sally, what an idea! I think that's absolutely wonderful. We will never know who finds it and what happens. And they will never know it was you and Randy,
This reminds me, years ago a dear Heavensubscriber -- she was in her 80's as I remember -- wrote that she would go up to a person here and there in Walmart, someone who looked not so happy and say, "You look like you could use this." And she'd hand them a Heavenletter!
People thanked her! There must have been something about this lady that she could do this successfully. I am by no means suggesting that anyone do this. I would not have the nerve.
God bless you and Randy.